Parra Mattas

by Red Dwyer

Thursday, 5 May 2011

Auburn. Megamall on the market

One of Australia’s largest enclosded builky goods centre, Homemaker Megamall, at Auburn, is on the market. The 32,347-square-metre complex, on Parramatta Road, is fully leased with a net income of $6.6 million per year. In excess of 70 per cent of the lettable area is secured to national retailers. The complex has parking for 683 vehicles.

Parramatta. $50 million substation

Endeavour Energy (formerly Integral Energy) will commnce work on its new $50 million West Parramatta zone substation, at 15 Macvquarie Street, in the Parramatta CBD, in mid-May, as part of the upgrading of the electricity network in Parramatta.

Region. Skinner introduces bill

Professor Stephen Leeder, the chairman of the Western Sydney governing council, said the government might change some of the members to better handle the increased responsibilities it would give the district boards. These included increased financial responsibilities. ''I don't think it's driven by a political vendetta,'' he said in The Sydney Morning Herald. Professor Leeder was commenting on the bill introduced in state parliament by the Minister for Health, Jillian Skinner, to change the names of local health networks to local health districts, and rebadge the governing councils that run them as district health boards.

Fairfield. Fraud capital

Rairfield is the state's e-commerce fraud capital, according to data released to The Sydney Morning Herald by the computer security firm RSA. The data was collected from monitoring 2 million Australian Visa and MasterCard credit and debit cards between January and March of this year. E-commerce fraud involves a criminal using a stolen credit or debit card to buy goods online. Top ranking areas in which e-commerce fraud was attempted: Fairfield 6.9 per cent, Gosford 5.9 per cent, Hurstville 2.1 per cent, North Ryde 2.0 per cent, Hay 1.5 per cent, City of Sydney 1.1 per cent and Mascot 1.0 per cent.

Hawkesbury. Showcasing benefits of compost

The NSW government is joining forces with Hawkesbury Harvest to establish five farm demonstration sites to showcase the benefits of compost for sustainable agriculture. The $30,000 project on five flower, vegetable and turf farms will highlight the results of a series of trials that showed compost improves soil quality, increases yield, saves water and reduces nutrient run-off. Recent trials have scientifically demonstrated the benefits of compost in commercial vegetable production. The project will be funded by the Office of Environment Heritage (OEH) and managed by the Compost NSW Market and Industry Development Officer, Darren Fahey.